ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Teraa Surroor- One man show

    Teraa Surroor- One man show

    Himesh Reshammiya counts mostly on his musical score to make his films and attract audience. His latest, Teraa Surroor, is described as a ‘Lethal love story’, Earlier titled Guns N Roses, the film is a sequel of his 2007 movie, AapKaaSurroor.

    In the earlier film, AapKaaSurroor, Himesh, a singer, is framed for a murder and jailed in Germany where he is for a music concert. If he does not prove his innocence in a day’s time, he loses his lady love. The only way he can do that is by breaking out of jail and finding the real culprit.

    This time, in Teraa Surroor, Himesh changes roles. His girlfriend, Farah Karimaee, is arrested in Ireland and it is up to Himesh to prove her innocence.

    Himesh is out partying and lures a dancer at the club to bed. Next, he walks into a hotel suite and shoots down a few drug dealers. Soon, like a good boy, he goes home and confesses to his girlfriend who he is slated to marry in a month’s time that he has strayed, that he slept with another woman!

    Farah sulks and does not want to have anything to do with Himesh. Despite her wedding being a month away, she decides to go on a singing assignment to Ireland to celebrate India Day on an invitation by a Facebook friend! Farah’s mother, Shernaz Patel, is fond of Himesh and wants the duo to talk over things and end their differences. But, Farah wants a break and proceeds to Ireland.

    When Farah lands in Ireland, she is asked to proceed to the hotel by her Facebook friend as he could not reach the airport to receive her. While she is on her way, her cab is surrounded by cops. She is found to be carrying contraband drugs. Arrested, she is tried and promptly sentenced to jail. When asked if she would like to inform anybody back home, she asks Himesh be informed. She also learns the hard way that the host country does not celebrate anything like India Day!

    Himesh is on mission now. He has to get his fiancée out of jail and find the culprit who planted the drugs on her. Farah’s lawyer, Monica Dogra, informs him that there is no way she can come out without completing her term. The only way to bring her out seems to be jailbreak. There are experts on just about everything and Himesh finds the expert on jailbreaks, Naseeruddin Shah, who has fled from various jails as many as 14 times!

    Meanwhile, Kabir Bedi, the police chief here, and Shekhar Kapur, the Indian Ambassador in Ireland, both old chums, are busy doing their bit.

    Shah makes up a plan to spring Farah out of jail and Himesh follows it to the T; Farah is out and the entire Irish police force is after them. Both make it safely to a port from where they would be helped to reach India. But, Himesh has a job to complete. He asks Farah to wait for him and returns to settle scores with the man who framed Farah.

    Teraa Surroor suffers from a patchy script. There are so many glitches and contradictions which are jarring. The director, Shawn Arrahna, concentrates more on scenic visuals and finesse rather than flaws in the content. Though he manages to keep the first part taut, the film meanders post interval. Not to deny that the attention to locations makes the film a visual delight. Though some of the songs are rehashed by Himesh from his earlier film, all six songs in the film are tuneful.

    Himesh has grown a six-pack and muscles and even bares given an opportunity. Otherwise, he carries a single look throughout. Guns speak louder than muscles in this film. Farah’s role is limited mainly to looking forlorn in a jail cell when not appearing in flashbacks in songs. Shekhar, Shah and Bedi just add some face value to the roaster, their roles being limited.

    Teraa Surroor has not had an expected opening response and its hope lies on the weekend.

    Producers: T Series, HR Musik.

    Director: Shawn Arranha.

    Cast: Himesh Reshammiya, Farah Karimaee, Shekhar Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Kabir Bedi, Monica Dogra, Shernaz Patel.

    Global Baba…One more baba!

    As the media started exposing the misdeeds of various babas with huge following, they found a new breed of followers, the filmmakers. The reason being, the exploits of these babas offer a filmmaker a fair bit of scope for comedies.

    Abhimnayu Singh is a sharpshooter killing his targets at whim. He is the henchman of a local woman politician because of which no cop dare to touch him. Now, police, led by Ravi Kishan, has arrested Singh. Kishan is leading him towards deep woods on the pretext of wanting a leak. The purpose is to kill him and make it look like an encounter. Singh knows he is trapped and, as a sort of last wish, wants to know who dared order his kill. He learns that his death has been ordered by the same woman politician he did all the dirty work for.

    Singh uses the same ploy of wanting to relieve himself and, in the process, tries to escape. But, the full police force is after him and he is shot in the back by Kishan. Singh falls into a rapid and assumed dead by the police. But, in Hindi films, whoever is shot and falls in to a river or sea, never dies.

    Singh emerges on the other side of the river where some aghori baba removes a bullet from his back with his bare hands. He was seemingly shot thrice but removing one bullet somehow brings him back to life. He has surfaced in some holy town on the banks of a holy river.

    On the run, Singh comes across one of his own taporis, PankajTripathi, who now poses as a maunee baba. He chose to be so because he had a problem with his speech. Tripathi sells a grand plan to Singh and that is to turn into a baba. There are all kind of babas so standing across a shop, Global Hair Cutting Saloon, the name is decided. Singh will become Global Baba with a feigned global following.

    Soon enough, GB has earned name, fame and an unprecedented following. You don’t see any global followers but the politicians of all hue and cry line up at his ashram, built on a grabbed land. Baba has become all powerful, blackmails politicians and even swings arms deals. Politicians seek his favours because he can create a communal riot on whim, can turn public opinion against any politician.

    No baba vs. politicians film is complete without a media person involved, better still if the person happens to be a female. So there is Sandeepa Dhar, a TV reporter working for the channel owned by home minister, Akhilendra Mishra, who plants her at the Singh’s ashram. Finally, Kishan realizes that Singh survived the bullets and has become Global Baba now.

    Just about everything in this film is routine, oft seen in this kind of films which springs up time and again. Here, what keeps the film alive to an extent is the thrill angle. Sadly, that interest factor is killed in the climax when the makers decide to keep the end open. May be it is an ambition of a sequel or make an intellectual point, this is lame. No justice for the villain, no dhishoomdhishoom; you know the villain so now go home. But, villain is known to the viewer from frame one!

    There is not much to say about technical aspects of the film. However, there are a few performances worth a mention. Of the cast, Tripathi excels. Singh manages to look appropriately sinister. Tripathi is very good. Kishan has little scope. Sandeepa is fair. Sanjay Mishra is wasted.

    Global Baba lacks face value to attract the audience.

    Producers: Vijay Bansal, Priya Bansal.

    Director: ManojSidheshwari Tiwari.

    Cast: Abhimanyu Singh, PankajTripathi, Ravi Kishan, SandeepaDhar, Akhilendra Mishra, Sanjay Mishra. 

  • Film Heritage Foundation conducts second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration workshop

    Film Heritage Foundation conducts second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration workshop

    MUMBAI: The Film Heritage Foundation saw major success with the second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop India 2016; a crucial initiative, given the urgent need to preserve India’s rich film legacy.

    Viacom 18 was the principal sponsor of this 10 day workshop that was conducted by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the National Film Archive of India and International Federation of Film Archives, which was held at NFAI in Pune.

    Actor Kamal Hassan was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop 2016. The 10 day workshop had an international faculty of leading experts in the field who addressed current issues surrounding film preservation and restoration including practical training of current restoration and archival best practices. The initiative covered the preservation of both film and non-film material like posters, documents, lobby cards, photographs, etc. which are an integral part of our cinematic heritage.

    Viacom 18 group CEO and chairman of CII National Committee on media and entertainment Sudhanshu Vats said, “Preservation and Restoration of Indian cinematic heritage is an on-going priority for us. Our goal is to help create awareness as to how important it is to preserve our cultural heritage for the benefit of the future generations. We are thankful to Film Heritage Foundation for having us on board once again and we look forward for a continued association to ensure enhanced dialogue and cooperation between all those who care about and love Indian cinema”

    Film Heritage Foundation founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur said,“It  has been a great year and with a second successful workshop behind us, we now have to start work on our mission to build an army of skilled film preservationists and restorers that is needed to save our moving image legacy. As always, we at Film heritage foundation cannot thank enough Sudhanshu Vats and his entire team at Viacom18 for their continued support for our cause and for understanding the importance of encouraging those who value India’s rich cinematic legacy to learn, explore and contribute towards saving it for posterity.”

    On this occasion the actor and chief guest  Kamal Hassan  said,“I am very pleased to be invited to be chief guest at the closing certification ceremony of the film preservation and restoration workshop in Pune and to present the FIAF certificates to the participants. A workshop of this kind is crucial for our country that has lost so much of our cinematic history and we need to grow a resource of passionate film archivists who are committed to saving our cinematic heritage. I would like to congratulate the Film Heritage Foundation for this remarkable initiative and for conducting the workshop at the National Film Archive of India.”

  • Film Heritage Foundation conducts second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration workshop

    Film Heritage Foundation conducts second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration workshop

    MUMBAI: The Film Heritage Foundation saw major success with the second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop India 2016; a crucial initiative, given the urgent need to preserve India’s rich film legacy.

    Viacom 18 was the principal sponsor of this 10 day workshop that was conducted by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the National Film Archive of India and International Federation of Film Archives, which was held at NFAI in Pune.

    Actor Kamal Hassan was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop 2016. The 10 day workshop had an international faculty of leading experts in the field who addressed current issues surrounding film preservation and restoration including practical training of current restoration and archival best practices. The initiative covered the preservation of both film and non-film material like posters, documents, lobby cards, photographs, etc. which are an integral part of our cinematic heritage.

    Viacom 18 group CEO and chairman of CII National Committee on media and entertainment Sudhanshu Vats said, “Preservation and Restoration of Indian cinematic heritage is an on-going priority for us. Our goal is to help create awareness as to how important it is to preserve our cultural heritage for the benefit of the future generations. We are thankful to Film Heritage Foundation for having us on board once again and we look forward for a continued association to ensure enhanced dialogue and cooperation between all those who care about and love Indian cinema”

    Film Heritage Foundation founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur said,“It  has been a great year and with a second successful workshop behind us, we now have to start work on our mission to build an army of skilled film preservationists and restorers that is needed to save our moving image legacy. As always, we at Film heritage foundation cannot thank enough Sudhanshu Vats and his entire team at Viacom18 for their continued support for our cause and for understanding the importance of encouraging those who value India’s rich cinematic legacy to learn, explore and contribute towards saving it for posterity.”

    On this occasion the actor and chief guest  Kamal Hassan  said,“I am very pleased to be invited to be chief guest at the closing certification ceremony of the film preservation and restoration workshop in Pune and to present the FIAF certificates to the participants. A workshop of this kind is crucial for our country that has lost so much of our cinematic history and we need to grow a resource of passionate film archivists who are committed to saving our cinematic heritage. I would like to congratulate the Film Heritage Foundation for this remarkable initiative and for conducting the workshop at the National Film Archive of India.”

  • Box Office: Gangaajal disappoints, Neerja holds ground in second week

    Box Office: Gangaajal disappoints, Neerja holds ground in second week

    MUMBAI: Prakash Jha trying to cash in on his 2003 film Gangaajal comes a cropper. The film relates in no way to the earlier film, nor does it refer to any jal in its tedious 148 minute narration. Using the face and popularity of Priyanka Chopra as a front, surprisingly, producer-director Prakash Jhahas launched himself as an actor at a rather late stage of his life. So much so that Priyanka is relegated to play second fiddle to Jha’s character. Jha also does not care too much for known faces of the supporting cast, mainly the villains, in his outdated local bahubalistory of Bihar. 

    Expectantly, the film opened to a poor response and unfavourable word of mouth kept its collections restricted on Saturday and Sunday with little improvement. Despite facing no major film in opposition, Gangaajalended its opening weekend collecting a mere Rs15.5 crore.

    Zubaan, another release of the week, just passed unnoticed.

    Aligarhfellprey to its negative theme which amounts to torture at the multiplex admission rates. Acceptance of a film by the audience depends solely on the identification the audience finds with the story. In the case of Aligarh, there is none. The film collected just Rs 2.1 crore for its first week.

    Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive is still born. A total let down compared to its first version, the film managed just Rs2.85 crore in its first week.

    Bollywood Diarieswas poor at just about Rs40 lakh in its first week. 

    Neerja held its ground in its second week. Entertainment Tax exemption in various states along with total positive word of mouth has helped. It is rare for such a heroine oriented biopic to collect about 67 per cent of its opening week figures. The film has added a handsome Rs 20.85 crore in its second week thus taking its two week total to Rs 55.05 crore. This recovery from just the film’s domestic theatrical market is remarkable considering its all-inclusive cost of Rs 21 crore. 

    Sanam Re collected Rs 20 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs28.3 crore.

    Airlift added Rs35 lakh in its fourth week to take its total to Rs 126.05 crore.

  • Box Office: Gangaajal disappoints, Neerja holds ground in second week

    Box Office: Gangaajal disappoints, Neerja holds ground in second week

    MUMBAI: Prakash Jha trying to cash in on his 2003 film Gangaajal comes a cropper. The film relates in no way to the earlier film, nor does it refer to any jal in its tedious 148 minute narration. Using the face and popularity of Priyanka Chopra as a front, surprisingly, producer-director Prakash Jhahas launched himself as an actor at a rather late stage of his life. So much so that Priyanka is relegated to play second fiddle to Jha’s character. Jha also does not care too much for known faces of the supporting cast, mainly the villains, in his outdated local bahubalistory of Bihar. 

    Expectantly, the film opened to a poor response and unfavourable word of mouth kept its collections restricted on Saturday and Sunday with little improvement. Despite facing no major film in opposition, Gangaajalended its opening weekend collecting a mere Rs15.5 crore.

    Zubaan, another release of the week, just passed unnoticed.

    Aligarhfellprey to its negative theme which amounts to torture at the multiplex admission rates. Acceptance of a film by the audience depends solely on the identification the audience finds with the story. In the case of Aligarh, there is none. The film collected just Rs 2.1 crore for its first week.

    Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive is still born. A total let down compared to its first version, the film managed just Rs2.85 crore in its first week.

    Bollywood Diarieswas poor at just about Rs40 lakh in its first week. 

    Neerja held its ground in its second week. Entertainment Tax exemption in various states along with total positive word of mouth has helped. It is rare for such a heroine oriented biopic to collect about 67 per cent of its opening week figures. The film has added a handsome Rs 20.85 crore in its second week thus taking its two week total to Rs 55.05 crore. This recovery from just the film’s domestic theatrical market is remarkable considering its all-inclusive cost of Rs 21 crore. 

    Sanam Re collected Rs 20 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs28.3 crore.

    Airlift added Rs35 lakh in its fourth week to take its total to Rs 126.05 crore.

  • NFAI founder director P K Nair is no more

    NFAI founder director P K Nair is no more

    New Delhi, 4 March: Veteran archivist P K Nair, founder director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune, died today. He was 86. After prolonged illness he breathed his last this morning at Sahyadri Nursing Home in Pune. He is survived by a daughter who lives in Thiruvananthapuram and a son who lives in Canada.

     

    Paramesh Krishnan Nair, who had dedicated his life to preservation of films and building the collection of films at the NFAI, was instrumental in archiving several landmark Indian films like Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra and Kaliya Mardan, Bombay Talkies films such as Jeevan Naiya, Bandhan, Kangan, Achhut Kanya and Kismet, S.S. Vasan’s Chandralekha and Uday Shankar’s Kalpana.

     

    Nair joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, as a research assistant in 1961 and went on to play a key role in the setting up of the NFAI in 1964. He was appointed assistant curator in 1965, and continued with the NFAI till 1991 and later became Director. He had helped acquire over 12,000 films for the archive. Of these, 8,000 were Indian and the rest foreign films.

     

    His life and work was immortalised in the documentary Celluloid Man, made by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, which went on to win a national award.

     

    Born on 6 April 1933 in Thuravanthapuram in Kerala, Nair developed an early interest in cinema. His initiation into films began with Tamil mythological films in the early 1940s such as K. Subramaniam’s Ananthasayanam and Bhakta Prahlada. His fascination for cinema began here, though his family did not support his interest in films.

     

    He graduated in science from the University of Kerala in 1953. Soon after, he went to Bombay (now Mumbai) to pursue a career in filmmaking.

     

    Though he got some practical training in branches of film making from some of the leading film makers of Bombay, particularly Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he realised that he did not have the ideal qualities to become a filmmaker himself. His interest lay more in the field of academics. As advised by Jean Bhownagary of Films Division, he appeared for an interview at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), was selected and joined the institute in March 1961 in the position of research assistant.

     

    While at FTII, he assisted Marie Seton and Professor Satish Bahadur in initiating and conducting the film appreciation classes of FTII. He also did the spade work in establishing the film archive set up as a separate wing of FTII. He corresponded with the curators and directors of established film archives in the UK, USA, France, Italy, Poland, Soviet Union and other countries. All of them advised an independent autonomous entity for NFAI and not as a wing of FTII.

     

    The National Film Archive of India was born in 1964 and Nair was appointed to the post of assistant curator in November 1965. He has, since then, established the archive from scratch by collecting films from all over India and the world.

     

    He was promoted as Director of the archive in 1982. He spearheaded the NFAI, Pune for nearly three decades and built up the archive which now enjoys a vibrant international reckoning.

     

    Landmark acquisitions include the Dadasaheb Phalke films and films of New Theatres, Bombay Talkies, Minerva Movietone, Wadia Movietone, Gemini Studios and AVM Productions.

     

    He was instrumental in introducing the works of world masters of cinema like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Andrzej Wajda, Miklós Jancsó, Krzysztof Zanussi,Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, apart from the Indian stalwarts like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt to FTII students, film society members, and other film study groups in the country.

     

    He was also instrumental in setting up the International Film Festival of Kerala.

    After his retirement, he lived in Pune not very far away from the NFAI and the FTII. 

     

    Awards and recognition.

     

    Nair was awarded the Satyajit Ray Memorial Award in 2008. Celluloid Man, the documentary on Nair was made by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur was premiered at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy in June 2012. 

     

    Later it won two National Awards at the 60th National Film Awards, including Best Biographical Film and Best Editing. The film was released in India on 3 May 2013 to coincide with the centenary of Indian cinema.

     

    The international federation of film critics, FIPRESCI, condoled the passing away of Nair. FIPRESCI India President H N Narahari Rao said in a statement: “It is with deep regret that we are recording here the sad demise of one of our most respected members of FIPRESCI-India P K Nair, former Director of National Film Archive of India and more popularly known as ‘The Celluloid Man’. He passed away today at Pune, the city where he built the Film Archive. He used to attend all the annual general meetings of FIPRESCI India at Goa IFFI without fail and guide us in our activities. We missed him last year but we received his message promptly that he was admitted to the hospital.  As a crusader who was deeply concerned with promoting good cinema in the country he made immense contribution to the growth of the Film Society movement in India during last five decades.”

  • NFAI founder director P K Nair is no more

    NFAI founder director P K Nair is no more

    New Delhi, 4 March: Veteran archivist P K Nair, founder director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune, died today. He was 86. After prolonged illness he breathed his last this morning at Sahyadri Nursing Home in Pune. He is survived by a daughter who lives in Thiruvananthapuram and a son who lives in Canada.

     

    Paramesh Krishnan Nair, who had dedicated his life to preservation of films and building the collection of films at the NFAI, was instrumental in archiving several landmark Indian films like Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra and Kaliya Mardan, Bombay Talkies films such as Jeevan Naiya, Bandhan, Kangan, Achhut Kanya and Kismet, S.S. Vasan’s Chandralekha and Uday Shankar’s Kalpana.

     

    Nair joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, as a research assistant in 1961 and went on to play a key role in the setting up of the NFAI in 1964. He was appointed assistant curator in 1965, and continued with the NFAI till 1991 and later became Director. He had helped acquire over 12,000 films for the archive. Of these, 8,000 were Indian and the rest foreign films.

     

    His life and work was immortalised in the documentary Celluloid Man, made by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, which went on to win a national award.

     

    Born on 6 April 1933 in Thuravanthapuram in Kerala, Nair developed an early interest in cinema. His initiation into films began with Tamil mythological films in the early 1940s such as K. Subramaniam’s Ananthasayanam and Bhakta Prahlada. His fascination for cinema began here, though his family did not support his interest in films.

     

    He graduated in science from the University of Kerala in 1953. Soon after, he went to Bombay (now Mumbai) to pursue a career in filmmaking.

     

    Though he got some practical training in branches of film making from some of the leading film makers of Bombay, particularly Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he realised that he did not have the ideal qualities to become a filmmaker himself. His interest lay more in the field of academics. As advised by Jean Bhownagary of Films Division, he appeared for an interview at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), was selected and joined the institute in March 1961 in the position of research assistant.

     

    While at FTII, he assisted Marie Seton and Professor Satish Bahadur in initiating and conducting the film appreciation classes of FTII. He also did the spade work in establishing the film archive set up as a separate wing of FTII. He corresponded with the curators and directors of established film archives in the UK, USA, France, Italy, Poland, Soviet Union and other countries. All of them advised an independent autonomous entity for NFAI and not as a wing of FTII.

     

    The National Film Archive of India was born in 1964 and Nair was appointed to the post of assistant curator in November 1965. He has, since then, established the archive from scratch by collecting films from all over India and the world.

     

    He was promoted as Director of the archive in 1982. He spearheaded the NFAI, Pune for nearly three decades and built up the archive which now enjoys a vibrant international reckoning.

     

    Landmark acquisitions include the Dadasaheb Phalke films and films of New Theatres, Bombay Talkies, Minerva Movietone, Wadia Movietone, Gemini Studios and AVM Productions.

     

    He was instrumental in introducing the works of world masters of cinema like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Andrzej Wajda, Miklós Jancsó, Krzysztof Zanussi,Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, apart from the Indian stalwarts like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt to FTII students, film society members, and other film study groups in the country.

     

    He was also instrumental in setting up the International Film Festival of Kerala.

    After his retirement, he lived in Pune not very far away from the NFAI and the FTII. 

     

    Awards and recognition.

     

    Nair was awarded the Satyajit Ray Memorial Award in 2008. Celluloid Man, the documentary on Nair was made by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur was premiered at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy in June 2012. 

     

    Later it won two National Awards at the 60th National Film Awards, including Best Biographical Film and Best Editing. The film was released in India on 3 May 2013 to coincide with the centenary of Indian cinema.

     

    The international federation of film critics, FIPRESCI, condoled the passing away of Nair. FIPRESCI India President H N Narahari Rao said in a statement: “It is with deep regret that we are recording here the sad demise of one of our most respected members of FIPRESCI-India P K Nair, former Director of National Film Archive of India and more popularly known as ‘The Celluloid Man’. He passed away today at Pune, the city where he built the Film Archive. He used to attend all the annual general meetings of FIPRESCI India at Goa IFFI without fail and guide us in our activities. We missed him last year but we received his message promptly that he was admitted to the hospital.  As a crusader who was deeply concerned with promoting good cinema in the country he made immense contribution to the growth of the Film Society movement in India during last five decades.”

  • Jai Gangaajal….Drab and routine

    Jai Gangaajal….Drab and routine

    Jai Gangaajal, as the title suggests is the sequel to Prakash Jha’s 2003 film, Gangaajal. Unlike its precursor, this film has a female protagonist playing the crusading cop. As is Jha’s wont, the film has a Bihar background and pits an honest police person with a corrupt local politician and his goons.

    The police force in the town of Lakhisarai is corrupt and at the beck and call of the politicians, especially the local MLA, ManavKaul. Manav has been winning elections for the last four terms as no one daresstand against him. His strategy is simple, fear. Anyone who dares to raise his voice against him is killed. The police is by his side with Prakash Jha, who takes to acting with this film, is his eyes and ears in the force.

    Manav is into land grabbing, having already presold plots which belong to farmers and local bazaar traders. The land is needed for an ambitious power plant which is the dream project of the chief minister and Manav. Both stand to make crores through the deal.The victims, led by Rahul Bhat, are agitating but not with much success. The police frame whoever protests in some or the other case. 

    To help his cause and control dissentin the region, the chief minister appoints Priyanka Chopra to take control of the Lakhisarai police force. The chief minister has obliged Priyanka’s family a lot, andas such, he expects her to toe his line. He does not want controversies as the elections are due soon.

    As Priyanka takes charge, she realizes that she has to contend not only with Manav and his goons led by his maniacal brother NinadKamat, but also remove the rot which has set into her police force. Almost all officers seem to be working for Manav instead of for the state.

    Priyanka arrests one of Manav’s goons for molesting a girl in broad daylight in a crowded street. When the goon is presented in court, bomb explosions in the court house help the goon escape. As Priyanka chases the goon, Jha shoots him as if to show that he is trying to save Priyanka. Priyanka understands that not only Jha and others work for Manav, but are also working against her. 

    There is, however, one farmer who refuses to sell his land leading to Manav’s deal being stuck. The farmer is lynched, his daughter is raped and found hanging from a tree. The incident changes Jha. He is no more willing to help Manav and proceeds to arrest Kamat. Encouraged, the mob also gets involved.

    The rest of the film is about Priyanka helping her officers regain their confidence and the end of Manav’s empire. In the process,the best scenes are hogged by Jha himself, leaving Priyanka in the shadows. 

    The film offers nothing new when compared to other such UP-Bihar Bahubali films. While the first half is fairly gripping, the script loses steam in the second half. Jha’s direction is passable with no sparks of genius anywhere. The film lacks music and romance and is lengthy at 148 minutes (after deleting 10 minutes) with no major stars to pull it through except Priyanka. Priyanka is good as a determined cop. Jha impresses as a corrupt cop turned kosher. Manav is okay while Kamat andMurli Sharma are good.
    Jai Ganaajal is a dry film with no entertainment value as such. The opening has been discouraging and so are the reports.

    Producer: Prakash Jha.
    Director: Prakash Jha.
    Cast: Priyanka Chopra, ManavKaul, Prakash Jha, NinadKamat.

  • Jai Gangaajal….Drab and routine

    Jai Gangaajal….Drab and routine

    Jai Gangaajal, as the title suggests is the sequel to Prakash Jha’s 2003 film, Gangaajal. Unlike its precursor, this film has a female protagonist playing the crusading cop. As is Jha’s wont, the film has a Bihar background and pits an honest police person with a corrupt local politician and his goons.

    The police force in the town of Lakhisarai is corrupt and at the beck and call of the politicians, especially the local MLA, ManavKaul. Manav has been winning elections for the last four terms as no one daresstand against him. His strategy is simple, fear. Anyone who dares to raise his voice against him is killed. The police is by his side with Prakash Jha, who takes to acting with this film, is his eyes and ears in the force.

    Manav is into land grabbing, having already presold plots which belong to farmers and local bazaar traders. The land is needed for an ambitious power plant which is the dream project of the chief minister and Manav. Both stand to make crores through the deal.The victims, led by Rahul Bhat, are agitating but not with much success. The police frame whoever protests in some or the other case. 

    To help his cause and control dissentin the region, the chief minister appoints Priyanka Chopra to take control of the Lakhisarai police force. The chief minister has obliged Priyanka’s family a lot, andas such, he expects her to toe his line. He does not want controversies as the elections are due soon.

    As Priyanka takes charge, she realizes that she has to contend not only with Manav and his goons led by his maniacal brother NinadKamat, but also remove the rot which has set into her police force. Almost all officers seem to be working for Manav instead of for the state.

    Priyanka arrests one of Manav’s goons for molesting a girl in broad daylight in a crowded street. When the goon is presented in court, bomb explosions in the court house help the goon escape. As Priyanka chases the goon, Jha shoots him as if to show that he is trying to save Priyanka. Priyanka understands that not only Jha and others work for Manav, but are also working against her. 

    There is, however, one farmer who refuses to sell his land leading to Manav’s deal being stuck. The farmer is lynched, his daughter is raped and found hanging from a tree. The incident changes Jha. He is no more willing to help Manav and proceeds to arrest Kamat. Encouraged, the mob also gets involved.

    The rest of the film is about Priyanka helping her officers regain their confidence and the end of Manav’s empire. In the process,the best scenes are hogged by Jha himself, leaving Priyanka in the shadows. 

    The film offers nothing new when compared to other such UP-Bihar Bahubali films. While the first half is fairly gripping, the script loses steam in the second half. Jha’s direction is passable with no sparks of genius anywhere. The film lacks music and romance and is lengthy at 148 minutes (after deleting 10 minutes) with no major stars to pull it through except Priyanka. Priyanka is good as a determined cop. Jha impresses as a corrupt cop turned kosher. Manav is okay while Kamat andMurli Sharma are good.
    Jai Ganaajal is a dry film with no entertainment value as such. The opening has been discouraging and so are the reports.

    Producer: Prakash Jha.
    Director: Prakash Jha.
    Cast: Priyanka Chopra, ManavKaul, Prakash Jha, NinadKamat.

  • PVR launches six-screen multiplex in Bangalore

    PVR launches six-screen multiplex in Bangalore

    MUMBAI: PVR Cinema has launched a new six-screen multiplex at Vaishnavi Sapphire Mall, Yashwantpur in Bangalore.

    PVR Cinemas CEO Gautam Dutta said, “We are very excited about this brand new property. The cinema would be a new hub of entertainment for the residents in the nearby vicinity. Also, with the wide range of programming mix provided at the box office and the vast offerings of food and beverages at the property, we ensure to provide a wholesome family entertainment outing to our patrons.” 

    Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the cinema also has Christie digital projection; 3D enabled screens along with Dolby digital 7.1 surround sound system. 

    PVR joint managing director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli said, “Bangalore is a unique market for cinema exhibition as it has a very interesting mix of audience that prefers a varied range of movies. From animated movies to drama, action to regional, the market demands are high on terms of entertainment. People here are very keen to get the best quality in terms of ambience, technology and food and beverages. Hence, we have taken utmost care whilst building this property. I would also like to thank Sugam Vanijay holdings, our mall developers for providing us a strategic location in the city. We look forward to have further associations with them.”